In the machining of materials, particularly hard materials such as metals and some non-metals (e.g. carbides), it is well known to carry out a machining operation in the presence of a fluid (such as a cooling and/or lubricating fluid) that is directed onto the tool and/or workpiece. Examples of such machining operations include cutting and/or grinding of steel workpieces to produce gears and face couplings; grinding of tool steel and/or carbide materials to form or sharpen cutting tools for gears and other tooth articles, and dressing or truing operations to restore a desired form to an abrasive tool such as a grinding wheel.
In many machining operations utilizing the application of cooling and/or lubricating fluids to a tool and/or workpiece, it is known to supply such fluids to the tool and/or workpiece via one or more nozzles or pipes extending from a primary fluid receiving fixture such as a base or header (collectively hereafter “header”). See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,182,674 to Mundt. The particular fluid is usually supplied under pressure to the header wherein it is distributed to the nozzles and/or pipes. The nozzles and/or pipes themselves can be of any number, length and/or configuration so as to convey the fluid for delivery to the desired location on the tool, workpiece or the region of tool-workpiece contact during machining.
It is customary for nozzles and/or pipes to be attached to a header in a manner (e.g. threads or bolts) requiring the use of tools for removing and replacing in situations where differently configured nozzles and/or pipes are required such as machining of a differently configured or sized workpiece. In some instances, the header is manufactured integral with the nozzles and/or pipes such that machining a differently configures or sized workpiece requires another header having appropriately configured nozzles and/or pipes. In either case, considerable time, tools and effort is usually involved to prepare a machine for delivering fluid to a differently configured or sized workpiece.
It is also known to employ reconfigurable fluid nozzles and/or pipes attached to a fluid header whereby machining of a differently configured or sized workpiece can be accommodated by reconfiguring each nozzle and/or pipe to redirect fluid to the appropriate locations with respect to the different workpiece. Here again, time and effort, and possibly tools, are usually involved in such a reconfiguration.